South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) of South Korea has signed a contract with Zodiac Group Monaco for building four new containerships.
HHI authorities declared the contract to be worth USD 407 million (KRW 436.8 billion). New ultra-large container vessels of 14 thousand TEU each are scheduled for delivery by July 2020 but no other detail of the order were revealed. Meanwhile, Zodiac Maritime already has five 11 thousand TEU containerships on order for production at Hyundai, which are scheduled for completion within next year. According to previous reports, five new Panamaxes were ordered to HHI by Zodiac in November 2017, fetching a price of USD 90 million each. But with respect to HHI’s last announcement, the order was lowered to four vessels.
Presently, Zodiac Maritime owns 132 vessels in its actual fleet; including 15 newbuildings. Hyundai on the other hand, had a strong year start in order intakes; and it has secured orders for over 30 ships, the majority being gas carriers, along with large ore and container vessels. The shipbuilder plans to keep its focus on gas carrier market due to the expected growth of LNG and LPG volumes coupled with the USA’s intense energy exports policy and China’s eco-friendly energy consumption campaign. The Group targets an orderbook value of USD 13.2 billion this year; which it has realized as USD 9.9 billion in 2017.
